Educational Science

3% of High-School Seniors Have Used K2 or Spice in the Past Month

It may look like weed, and it may be smoked like weed. But synthetic cannabinoids — a category of drugs, some of which are legal and go by names like K2 and spice — can be far more dangerous than natural marijuana. Now, a recent study shows that in 2014...

Does Marijuana Really Help You Sleep?

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. If you speak to someone who has suffered from insomnia at all as an adult, chances are good that person has either tried using marijuana, or cannabis, for sleep...

Smoking marijuana has been linked with heart problems, but in a surprising new finding, researchers now say the drug may have benefits for people with heart failure. However, the researchers stress that they do not currently recommended that heart failure patients use marijuana. The researchers found that, among patients with...

What's Really in Marijuana Extracts? These Products Are Often Mislabeled

Marijuana extracts containing the potentially beneficial compound cannabidiol are available to purchase online, but a new study finds that buyers of these products often don't get what they pay for: The products frequently contain higher or lower doses of cannabidiol than what's listed on the label. What's more, the study...

Marijuana with 'CBD' May Pose Less Risk to Long-Term Users

Marijuana with relatively high levels of a compound called cannabidiol may be less risky to smoke over the long term, because this ingredient may counteract some of the drug's harmful effects, according to a new study in mice. The study found that adolescent mice injected with frequent doses of tetrahydrocannabinol...

Love Buzz: Marijuana Use Linked to Sexual Activity

People who frequently use marijuana are likely to have sex more often, a new study suggests. The researchers found that the women in the study who said they hadn't used marijuana in the past year reported that they'd had sex an average of six times in the previous month. Women...

Teen Cigarette Use Drops, But Marijuana & Vaping Rates Stay High

Teen use of many drugs is on the decline, but U.S. officials remain concerned about teen marijuana use — which actually increased in the past year — and vaping, which is common, according to a new survey. The government-backed annual survey, called Monitoring the Future, gathered data from more than...

Lay Off 'Pot Cures Cancer' Claims, FDA Warns

Medical marijuana may help with several health conditions, but it's certainly not a cure for cancer. Now, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is cracking down on companies that claim their cannabis products can get rid of cancer. The FDA issued warning letters to four companies that sell products...

Why a Pot 'Breathalyzer' Won't Work

It's really tricky to measure how much marijuana a person has used on a given day — and how impaired their driving may be as the result of that use — a new opinion piece says. Amid the more widespread legalization of marijuana, there are calls for a roadside test...